Captainp4

I was all ready to sound smart about remembering cod from physics, you ruined my fun ?

To me, the Benz interior looks like it's trying too hard to be "luxury" and just looks busy/cluttered - regardless of materials used. And fwiw, I don't necessarily consider Tesla luxury either (even though I argued earlier that many do), but I do like the simplicity of them. Either way, it's all personal preference and I bet the manufacturers don't care who considers what what as long as they're selling cars and making money.

You might not consider it one, but most people/publications do. It just depends if you consider tech features luxury or premium materials luxury. If it's the tech, it's a no brainer that it is luxury. If it's premium materials then it can be argued that it isn't. It's probably on par with a Lincoln for material/nvh/traditional luxury metrics though. Obviously far ahead of everyone else on the tech end.

Same here, I've seen 2 Rivians, pretty decent numbers of Mach-E's.. haven't seen a Lightning yet. Very possible it just blends in with all the other F150s and there are some around, but not a substantial enough change to catch my eye.

Time and data, lots and lots of data, are what will make these systems work. Sprinkle in some AI and they'll get there eventually. I wonder if the automakers will license the Tesla software the way they caved on the charging standard or stick with their own systems? Good to see Ford making some progress on it though.

Price would help, but I think with F and many others it's a product issue. While the ones they have out are great first efforts and come close, they still, in general, don't match comparable Teslas, cost more, and don't have access to the super charging network. Obviously most of this will change in the next few years, but the current BEV product is mostly "you almost had it" and I think it's starting to show.

What else can they do to meet standards? They already have dpf and def. More aggressive approaches to that or more extra stuff??

This might fit perfectly for my lawn business. Tow a 26ft enclosed with a 2010 F250 because it's right on the edge of what a F150 can do and I don't trust pushing the limits for every day use. Superduty with a diesel way more comfortable than a 150 would be with the load, but it does around 200 miles a week on mostly local route, it's probably a little overkill. Have been waiting for a BEV that can do it, but a hybrid "f200" might be the sweet spot for what I need. Please don't bring back the 7 lug wheels though, just do the 8 lol

As I understand it, Tesla employees get stock in the company as part of their compensation. I'd take that over anything a union can offer. Not that I'd want to be paid in stocks as a F employee, but TSLA is a pretty good one.

Assuming final is putting the last plastic pieces on that just clip in when you push them?

So the people on the line tightening lugnuts with a machine that lifts the tire and tightens all the lugnuts at the same time are making the same money as the guy hand building a predator/trinity/whatever?

Honestly, how skilled is a production line spot? I can't imagine it taking more than a month to learn almost all of the positions. They're all pretty much automated, aren't they? Unless I'm grossly wrong about how a production line works, I just see people pushing buttons on pretty much automated machines and watching them do the lifting and fastening for them. I don't see how you can be more skilled or more efficient (and therefore worth more) if you're limited by the line speed anyway. Really don't understand how a line worker can be worth so much an hour, not trying to insult anyone here that is one. I need a day in the life of video to see what's so hard about it.

Honest question, what's to stop Ford or any of the others from hiring someone that wants to work instead of complain at the union plants? Are they required by law to hire union workers?

RETURN OF THE 7 LUG F150HD and then F250LD !! ???

That's what I was thinking.. you were really doing something if you had 200-240hp from the early 70s up until the mid 90s for GM (LS1, ~315hp in the F-body and vette I believe), took Ford a little longer to get the modular above 300 (05 mustang I think was 300) aside from limited production 4v versions. Not that it helped GM any sales wise having more power, but.. almost everything was anemic for a couple of decades after 72/3. One thing a lot of people don't realize though is the switch between SAE net and gross at the same time as the emissions crack downs, so the power losses appeared worse than they were if using the same hp rating system, and the lowering of compression ratios on almost everything with the loss of leaded gas. Was a lot going on at the same time contributing to sharp drop in HP numbers.

Never said it was worth it or made sense, just pointing out that a performance tune on a 7.3 isn't hard at all and it can easily make way more power than a 5.0 n/a. Emissions certification and all the testing probably wouldn't pay off with relatively low volume, I understand that. The 6.2 didn't end up being worth putting in the F150 when sales numbers came back and the ecoboost killed it. That said, calling it a heavy duty/slow revving/slug/whatever else was said just doesn't make sense if you know anything about building engines. The thing these guys are ignoring is that the stock godzilla heads already flow slightly better than the coyote and are a mild port job away from flowing 100cfm more. It is an absolute powerhouse waiting to be unleashed by Ford if they ever choose to (very unlikely we'll see it in anything besides the superduty) or the aftermarket. Not much as far as making power goes, it's always been about air flow. More air in and out means more power. EFI has made tuning immensely easier and allows for better emissions control and pushing the limits of the tune and still being safe (all my old carb stuff is holley sniper EFI, not as good as sequential multiport, but still better than a carb for most uses). But the basics are the same.

I'm seeing 430-460lbs for coyote and around 540 for godzilla. ~100lbs is nothing in a pickup. It may rev like a slug in a superduty turning a heavy duty transmission and with a "tune" meant to produce low end torque for towing, but again, it's a cam/intake swap away from snapping harder than a yote.

You know I meant in truck trim (even said that). It makes 400/410 in an F150, less than the even more safely tuned and derated 250/350 7.3. It's a cam and intake swap away from WAY more than the 500/418 dark horse. I'm all for the dohc engines and love the tech, and even agree the 5.0/5.2 makes more sense for something like this, but let's not act like the 7.3 couldn't be an absolute power house with VERY little work. a Brief google says the godzilla heads flow better stock for stock compared to coyote and have more room to grow with porting. The 7.3 is literally being choked by the cam and intake choice to make low end grunt for truck duty.

What? It makes more power stock to stock in a truck

7-800 hp n/a is seemingly pretty easy out of the Godzilla with bolt ons. 1200++++ (have seen 1700) w/boost. Whether it can pass emissions or durability requirements at those levels is unknown, but calling them shit is a little off. The dohc stuff is cool in the sports cars, but a nasty pushrod v8 will always have a spot in my yard. 450, 550, and 800+ horse 460s sitting in mine. That said, the 5.0/5.2 is much more likely and probably makes more sense in the 150.

Well, that's kind of my point. What's a luxury brand if it doesn't have vehicles that can command luxury prices? It's not hard to get a superduty over 100k if you start checking off options.. Lincoln should command that or double easily from a flagship model if it was a true effort from a true luxury brand. 65 Continental was 6300 65 GT350 was 4500 2024 Continental should command 420, 000 ??

Yeah, I mean I understand they're probably still making money with lower volumes and such a premium for not a lot of change from the Ford versions.. but if we can find money to develop a 300k dollar mustang we can squeeze a "halo" Lincoln out if they really care about the brand instead of wild concepts that never see production over and over again.

Has Lincoln really done anything amazing since the 60s continental? Mark viii or whatever was pretty cool, LS was cool, navigator was cool..... The new continental was REALLY close, especially the "coach door" one, but just didn't have whatever "it" is. I feel like my entire life (at least since I started following automotive news in HS) Lincoln had some really cool concept or plan that was just around the corner and never came because -insert some economic or social disaster-. If the Ford family is so against killing the brand why don't they fight harder to make it relevant? -owner of 64 Continental and 2017 MKC

I own a lawn care company, I love the 100 degree days ?

Should've finished that mechanical engineering degree, then I could make almost as much as the union wants for an assembly line guy I own a lawn cutting business btw, so not talking crap about blue collar workers, but come awn.. assembly line work isn't worth almost 50 an hour. I've seen gas stations/fast food advertising 15-17ish around here (MD, so usually higher pay than national average), along with a sign on bonus of 500 or so.